Shubha Tole facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Shubha Tole
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Shubha Tole presenting "Our flexible brains" at a TED talk March 30, 2019
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| Born | August 1967 (age 57) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | St Xavier's, Mumbai California Institute of Technology, USA |
| Occupation | Neuroscientist |
| Employer | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research |
| Spouse(s) | Sandip Trivedi |
| Children | 2 |
Shubha Tole (born August 1967) is an amazing Indian neuroscientist. A neuroscientist is a scientist who studies the brain and the nervous system. She is a professor and a main researcher, called a Principal Investigator, at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India.
Dr. Tole's work focuses on how the brains of mammals (like humans, dogs, and cats) grow and change over time. In 2014, she won the important Infosys Prize for her work in life sciences.
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Early Life and Schooling
Shubha Tole was born in August 1967 in India. Her mother, Aruna P. Tole, was an occupational therapist. She helped cancer patients by designing special tools and body parts for them. Her father was the director of SAMEER, a government institute focused on electronics.
Shubha Tole studied life sciences and biochemistry at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai. Later, she went to the California Institute of Technology in the United States. There, she earned her master's and doctoral degrees. After that, she did more research at the University of Chicago.
What Does Dr. Tole Research?
In 1999, Dr. Tole started her own research team in Mumbai. Her team works at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
How Does the Brain Form?
Dr. Tole and her team made an important discovery. They found out about a special gene called LHX2. This gene helps control how parts of the brain like the amygdala, cortex, and hippocampus grow. These parts are very important for feelings, thinking, and memory.
Her team also suggested how the neocortex might have developed in mammals. The neocortex is the newest part of the brain. They think it might be linked to the amygdala, which is a much older brain structure.
Understanding Animal Behavior
Dr. Tole's group also found out something new about how animals behave. They discovered that parts of the brain that control actions like reproduction and aggression have two different ways of developing. This happens in a part of the brain called the accessory olfactory bulb, which helps mammals smell.
Awards and Recognition
Dr. Tole has received many awards for her amazing work. These awards show how important her discoveries are in science.
- In 1999, she received the Wellcome Trust Senior International Fellowship.
- In 2005, she won the Swarnajayanti Fellowship from the Indian government.
- The Indian government also gave her the National Woman Bioscientist award in 2008.
- In 2008, she received the Research Award for Innovation in Neurosciences (RAIN award) from the Society for Neuroscience in the United States.
- She was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 2010. This is one of India's highest science awards.
- In 2008, she also got a special travel grant from Stanford University for a year of research.
- In 2014, Dr. Tole won the Infosys Prize. This prize included 55 lakh rupees (a large sum of money). She won it for her work on how the hippocampus forms. The hippocampus is a key part of the brain for learning and memory.
